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I have a local funeral home that has a Steinway made in 1914. The piano has several loose pins. Eventually they want to have the piano professionally restored by Steinway, but asked me to help them "get by" with the piano for a couple more years. It is not really holding it's tuning. I have used CA glue before with great success, however I am a little hesitant to use it on this piano. By using the CA glue, would I ruin the value of this piano? Do you consider CA glue a last ditch effort? Should I tell them that it needs a new pin block and just hold off until they can have it restored? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

If the piano is not staying in tune and they are asking you to help the piano "get by" for a few more years, then go ahead with the CA glue. If they are going to, eventually, have it professionally restored, it will get a new pin block then...and the current CA glue treatment won't matter.

That's a good question Loren. I use CA glue a lot on pinblocks but it's usually pianos that are on their last leg anyway. I have wondered what the result would be if the piano were to be rebuilt. Would some rebuilder be cussing me out?

Ryan - Do you think they're serious about getting it rebuilt? Are they just saying that but won't follow through? Will it be 20 years before they get it rebuilt? If you think that's the case then I'd say go for it for sure.

Someone commented recently that CA glue had glued the block to the plate on a grand so it is possible. I don't know if the numbers would work for Steinway to rebuild a vertical piano. It might be a better option just to buy a new upright, and I could think of several brand options for that - Steinway and others.

There are many ways of using CA glue. Used a little bit at a time, there isn't any real danger of gluing the pinblock in... However, I have read of techs using multiple bottles of glue, and putting paper in the action cavity to catch the overflow - that sounds like a problem in the making.

I would use a few drops (3-5) per pin the first time and then go back and put a few more drops in the pins that are still a little loose. Let them know this isn't an "instant" fix, but will cure all of the pins with a couple of applications.

If you fix it for them they will never go ahead with the proper repairs needed. I have seen the same scenario over and over again and it takes total component failure to convince owners to proceed with comprehensive repairs. Maybe tap in, or set, the offending tuning pins to give the threads some new wood follicles to hold it and when the coils reach the plate then it's time to proceed with repairs. If it was a lesser piano that gets minimal play then CA it but for a business such as this don't apply long term band aids. You will be called back repeatedly to fix out of tune notes or resort to oversized pins. How is the rest of the components. Hammers worn? Key bushings with too much side play? If it's income your after than go ahead and apply the CA but this is a business that uses this piano as a fundamental component of their business. Can you restring and restore ? Take this project on. My opinion.

I wonder...has there been a case where the pinblock got glued to the plate from the treatment?

Even if it did, I doubt that it would be such a big deal. You may have to scrape off a few fragments of the old wood here and there.

It would take a whole lot of CA and sloppy application to get a large area of the interface glued. Even in that case, it shouldn't be too much extra work. You can divide and conquer: Cut the old block into pieces. Sawzall some kerfs and use an old beater chisel to get prying access.

If its just a few loose pins here and there, why would you not just go with some oversized pins and be done with it? As an alternative, you can wind out the pins, CA the hole itself and drive the pins back in for a more neater and effective CA job.

CA glue can be removed and loosened with debonder if any gets where you don't want it.Plates are usually lifted out with some kind of winch/come along and still should separate if some glue gets in behind it. Wire brush wheel would clean up the remanents. Not fun, but nothing tragic.

If its just a few loose pins here and there, why would you not just go with some oversized pins and be done with it?

Because C/A is a heck of a lot quicker and easier. I had three loose pins on a Wurlie mini piano this week. I used C/A on them without tipping the piano. It just wicked in and I used a paper towel to collect the overflow before it ran down the strings or plate. Worked just fine, and took about a minute.

I don't like pounding in pins - throws off the angles, just grabs a tiny bit of new wood.

Don't like using any shims - weakens the string as you uncoil and recoil, plus can just provide a bigger problem as you force the wood of the pinblock apart...

Same with oversize pins - if you are dealing with a weakened pinblock structure, tossing something bigger in the hole will just make things worse...

Pulling pins to swab with CA has the same problem of taking more time, weakening the string and causing instability problems.

Be mindful of indoor humidity level, CA doesn't set up if the humidity is low - it may cause you to have to schedule multiple trips, or wait until the humidity is higher. I still would be hesitant to use a spray accelerator around the pins and strings.

Putting in oversized pins does require one to assess the situation first and if they are located around each other then yes, you may aggravate a cracking block. Angles don't change if done right and I haven't seen a string break from the process and have been doing it for several decades. Sure it takes a bit more time but you retain the same inherant feel on the min when tuning afterwards (albiet, tighter).

I do the CA treatment myself with usually good results but often loose pins encountered around here are most often already driven down deeper by previous techs. At some point you are gunking up the coils with CA on these and leaving a less than ideal position for the wire to come off the pin. If your pulling out the pin to reset it with CA, why not just put in a tighter pin, if your carrying them? Loose pins can also be caused by aggessive tuning, flagpoling ect...not always a cracking block causing it.

Because C/A is a heck of a lot quicker and easier. I had three loose pins on a Wurlie mini piano this week. I used C/A on them without tipping the piano. It just wicked in and I used a paper towel to collect the overflow before it ran down the strings or plate. Worked just fine, and took about a minute.

Weird, I just did the same thing on a mini Wurlitzer (72 keys) this week!You know, using CA glue is so quick, easy and effective that I'm really amazed every time I use it.

Bob - Yes, mine seemed to be good quality for a mini and the customer had cleaned up the case so it actually looked very nice. The only bad thing was that the keys had a lot of hairline cracks. They were the ones that are rounded instead having a lip. I had planned to go through it 4 times but after applying the CA glue as I went it was solid after the third pass. And no broken strings! (It was 100 cents or more flat)The customer was amazed when I was done and actually I was too! Very satisfying...

I don't like pounding in pins - throws off the angles, just grabs a tiny bit of new wood.

Don't like using any shims - weakens the string as you uncoil and recoil, plus can just provide a bigger problem as you force the wood of the pinblock apart...

Ron Koval, let me disagree with you. I always use the method of installation carboard shims .It is effective job 100%, providing hardness between the pin and pinblock. We do not to cause significant damage to the bush and pinblock when we to screwed out the piano .When a pin must be set the bush did not beat it's. A pin need to twist in pinblockhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGk3dS6dKow&feature=channel

Greetings, Tapping in a pin had always been my first choice when the block is sound. Fast, easy, good benefits for the cost. HOwever, CA has given me better results than anything else I have tried in the last 35 years, (includes, Garfields, auto-antifreeze, and some esoteric elixir than an older tech left me with. None of them preserved the feel of the pin that I need to do a decent tuning, and none of them were permanent. I don't like the shims on at least two levels. The time required to install, and the upsetting of the wire. I have also not seen them to be durable, in comparison with oversize pins, or CA. I have several totally shot blocks out there that were CA'ed years ago, and they tune like any other piano. Haven't yet found any down-side to it, particularly when a mediocre grand still plays, but the pins won't hold and it is either throw it out, or spend way more than the piano is ever going to be worth. $75 on a treatment that give another 10 years? No-brainer.

I don't understand those that use two bottles on one piano. A small bottle of this stuff has done two complete pianos, the way I use it. There is no need to let it get between plate and block, either. If that is what happens, way too much is being used, and it is being put in the wrong place. Regards,

I don't understand those that use two bottles on one piano. A small bottle of this stuff has done two complete pianos, the way I use it. There is no need to let it get between plate and block, either. If that is what happens, way too much is being used, and it is being put in the wrong place

I wonder if people try to apply it like they would apply Garfield's, by trying to get as much in there as possible.

I don't like the shims on at least two levels. The time required to install, and the upsetting of the wire. I have also not seen them to be durable, in comparison with oversize pins

In itself, fixing the string is not perfect, but it must be such as to provide rigidity between the pin and the pinblock. Set shim (3 mm) of the corrugated. Cut a 50 by 20 mm strip out of the compact corrugated cardboard (of 2-3 mm thickness). Insert it in the bush and hole of pinblock so that the cardboard filled half of the circle. Firmly place this cardboard strip so that it reached the end of hole of pinblock . Force the turning pin into the hole while gradually screwing it in. Have this done gradually in 3 or 4 steps, so as to keep the turning pin from heating. Keep screwing the turning pin into its original (âhomeâ) fixing zone in the pinblock. Then, very gently with a small effort put the end of the string into the hole of the turning pin using a screwdriver. Adjusting and fixing the turning pin until it reaches the desired position, hold the coils of the string by a screwdriver so as to avoid their âsprawlingâ. I advise you, unless you have paired turning pin installed, while tightening both turning pins of the same string to obtain equal pitch level. It's screwed a success for several years without any gluehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOBwn2odX...ture=plpp_video

Yes, I have seen the videos and I have dealt with loose pins for many years. I don't do things that way, at all. If I am going to remove a pin, I am going to put another one in that is larger. I want the tuning surface to be steel on hardwood, not paper.

Pinblocks are made of very hard wood, cross plied. To put cardboard in as a shim is to introduce a very soft cellulose material. On one of the videos, it seems that the pin is far harder to turn in that it is later, when it is turned back and forth as the string is tuned. It would be very interesting to have a torque figure for the shimmed pin after the string is tuned to pitch. In fact, it would be a necessity to judge the quality of the repair.

Harpsichords, with their much lighter tension, single piece blocks, and small pins, are traditionally shimmed with parchment, but a piano pin with soft cardboard, no way. Regards,